1. Determining the Order of Questions and the Questionnaire Design Checklist

2. Determining the Order of Questions
Opening Questions
The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and non-threatening.
Type of Information
As a general guideline, basic information should be obtained first, followed by classification, and finally, identification information.
Difficult Questions
Difficult questions or questions which are sensitive, embarrassing, complex, or dull, should be placed late in the sequence.
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3. Determining the Order of Questions (Cont.)
Effect on Subsequent Questions
General questions should precede the specific questions (funnel approach).
Q1: “What considerations are important to you in selecting a department store?”
Q2: “In selecting a department store, how
important is convenience of location?”
(Correct)
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4. Determining the Order of Questions (Cont.)
Logical Order
The following guidelines should be followed for branching questions:
The question being branched (the one to which the respondent is being directed) should be placed as close as possible to the question causing the branching.
The branching questions should be ordered so that the respondents cannot anticipate what additional information will be required.
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The General Ordering of Questions in a Questionnaire
Question Type
Nature
Function
Example
Qualifying/
Screening Questions
Focus on respondent inclusion criteria
To determine if a respondent is eligible to participate in the survey
Who in your household does most of the shopping for groceries?
Introductory Questions/
warm-ups
Broad, easy questions
To break the ice and put the respondent at ease
How often do you shop for groceries?
Main Questions: Easy
Related to the information needed but easy to answer
To focus on the survey topic and reassure the respondent that survey is easy
How important Is each of the following factors in selecting a supermarket?
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The General Ordering of Questions in a Questionnaire
Question Type
Nature
Function
Example
Main questions: More difficult
Related to the information needed but may be difficult to answer
To obtain the rest of the information needed
How would you rank order the following eight supermarkets in terms of your preference to shop?
Psychographics/Lifestyles
Not relevant in all surveys
To obtain personality related information
Please indicate your degree of dis/agreement with the following statements
Demographics
Personal information
To classify the respondents
What was your household’s total annual last year?
Identification Information
Name, address, telephone
To identify the respondent
Name:
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Questionnaire Design Check-List
Step 1 Specify The Information Needed
1. Ensure that the information obtained fully addresses all the components of the problem.
2. Have a clear idea of the target population.
Step 2 Type of Interviewing Method
1. Review the type of interviewing method determined based on considerations discussed in Chapter 7.
Step 3 Individual Question Content
1. Is the question necessary?
2. Are several questions needed instead of one to obtain the required information in an unambiguous manner?
3. Do not use double-barreled questions.
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Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 4 Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer
1. Is the respondent informed?
2. If respondents are not likely to be informed, filter questions that measure familiarity, product use, and past experience should be asked before questions about the topics themselves.
3. Can the respondent remember?
4. Questions which do not provide the respondent with cues can
underestimate the actual occurrence of an event.
5. Can the respondent articulate?
6. Minimize the effort required of the respondents.
7. Make the request for information seem legitimate.
8. Is the information sensitive?
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Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 5 Choosing Question Structure
1. Open-ended questions are useful both in exploratory research and as opening questions.
2. Use structured questions whenever possible.
3. In multiple-choice questions, the response alternatives should include the set of all possible choices and should be mutually exclusive.
4. In a dichotomous question, if a substantial proportion of the respondents can be expected to be neutral, include a neutral alternative.
5. Consider the use of the split ballot technique to reduce order bias in dichotomous and multiple-choice questions.
6. If the response alternatives are numerous, consider using more than one question.
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10. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 6 Choosing Question Wording
1. Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where, why, and way (the six Ws).
2. Use ordinary words. Words should match the vocabulary level of the respondents.
3. Avoid ambiguous words: usually, normally, frequently, often, regularly, occasionally, sometimes, etc.
4. Avoid leading questions that clue the respondent to what the answer should be.
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11. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 6 Choosing Question Wording (Cont.)
5. Avoid implicit alternatives that are not explicitly expressed in the options.
6. Avoid implicit assumptions.
7. Respondent should not have to make generalizations or compute estimates.
8. Use positive and negative statements.
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Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 7 Determine the Order of Questions
1.The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and nonthreatening.
2. Qualifying questions should serve as the opening questions.
3. Basic information should be obtained first, followed by classification, and finally, identification information.
4. Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in the sequence.
5 .General questions should precede the specific questions.
6. Questions should be asked in a logical order.
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13. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 8 Form and Layout
1. Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
2. Questions in each part should be numbered.
3. The questionnaire should be precoded.
4. The questionnaires themselves should be numbered serially.
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14. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 9 Reproduction of the Questionnaire
1. The questionnaire should have a professional appearance.
2. Booklet format should be used for long questionnaires.
3. Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or double-page spread).
4. The tendency to crowd questions to make the questionnaire look shorter should be avoided.
5. Directions or instructions for individual questions should be placed as close to the questions as possible.
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15. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 10 Pretesting
1. Pretesting should be done always.
2. All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested, including question content, wording, sequence, form and layout, question difficulty, and instructions.
3. The respondents in the pretest should be similar to those who will be included in the actual survey.
4. Begin the pretest by using personal interviews.
5. Pretest should also be conducted by mail, telephone, or electronically if those methods are to be used in the actual survey.
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16. Questionnaire Design Check-List (Cont.)
Step 10 Pretesting (Cont.)
6. A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.
7. The pretest sample size is small, varying from 15 to 30 respondents for the initial testing.
8. After each significant revision of the questionnaire, another pretest should be conducted, using a different sample of respondents.
9. The responses obtained from the pretest should be coded and analyzed.
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